The HF-L boys varsity lacrosse team celebrates with its latest Section V block after winning the Class C title. Here is the article on the squad’s run to the championship. Photo by Brian Donohue
The road getting to the Section V Class C championship game was fairly smooth for the Honeoye Falls-Lima Boys Varsity Lacrosse team. The championship game itself, however, was not quite as easy as the Cougars had to wait out not one but two weather delays and overcome a gritty Palmyra-Macedon squad.
HF-L, the #2 seed in the tournament, crushed #7 seed Batavia Notre Dame 19-1 on May 20 in the quarterfinal round. The Cougars left no doubt about who was going to win the game, pumping in six goals within the first four minutes of play. Drew Angelo had two of those as did Grady Goodberlet while Chase Perryman and Mathew Brassie added one apiece. It was just part of a nine-goal outburst that carried HF-L to a 9-0 lead after the first period. The Cougars ripped in six more scores in the second quarter for a 15-0 halftime lead. BND got its only goal of the game in the third quarter, but HF-L notched three more goals to hold an 18-1 lead going into the final quarter.
Rowan Lyle tallied three goals with one assist, Goodberlet three goals, Brassie two goals and one assist, Zack Zollo two goals and one assist, Angelo two goals, Perryman one goal and three assists, Ethan Truong one goal and one assist, Jackson Coon one goal and one assist, Lucas Gould one goal and one assist, Jayden Hillegeer one goal, Luke Weiler one goal, Alex Meisenzahl one goal, Alex Steinhoff two assists, Madut Mathuc one assist and Carsen Montone one assist. Jackson Blythe had to make only one save. Montone won 15 faceoffs and had 11 ground balls. Angelo chipped in two ground balls and won two faceoffs. Defenseman Sam Jokl had five ground ball and one take, Blythe two ground balls, defenseman Austyn Crego two ground balls and five takes, Lyle two ground balls, Meisenzahl two ground balls and one take, defenseman John Henry Steinhoff two ground balls and four takes, Alex Steinhoff two ground balls, Mathuc one ground ball and one take, defenseman Ben Cook one ground ball and one take, Brassie one ground ball, Coon one ground ball, defenseman Owen Englert one ground ball, defenseman Braden Fugate one ground ball, Goodberlet one ground ball, Truong one ground ball and Zollo one ground ball.
“We established our dominance right away,” HF-L coach Eric Goodberlet said. “They are a young team, which is just starting to build their program.”
The Cougars routed #3 Geneva 17-5 in the semifinal round on May 22. HF-L seized a 7-3 lead after the first quarter on three goals by Perryman, two by Grady Goodberlet and one each from Owen Smith and Angelo. The squad popped in three more in the second quarter, one each by Patrick Donahoe, Perryman and Quinn Kailbourne, to boost its advantage to 10-3 by halftime. The Cougars put the game away with six goals in the third quarter and one in the fourth. Grady Goodberlet produced five goals, Perryman four goals and one assist, Kailbourne three goals and one assist, Smith one goal and three assists, Angelo one goal and one assist, Donahoe one goal, Marco Vengoechea one goal, Wyatt Huff one goal and Brassie one assist. Blythe (one save) and Jason Bennett (four saves) split time in goal. Angelo won 16 faceoffs and scooped up 19 ground balls. Huff collected five ground balls with two takes, Cook two ground balls with one take, Donahoe two ground balls, Brassie one ground ball, Grady Goodberlet one ground ball, Kailbourne one ground ball and one take, Lyle one ground ball, Mathuc one ground ball, defenseman Grant Peinkofer one ground ball, Smith one ground ball and Perryman one take.
“Geneva has a good faceoff man but Drew controlled the faceoffs for us,” coach Goodberlet said. “Defensively, we also played well and communicated well with each other.”
HF-L pulled away from a 4-4 tie at the end of the first quarter to top #1 seed Palmyra-Macedon 16-11 in the championship game on May 25. An inside feed from Donahoe to Angelo that Angelo put away got the Cougars on the scoreboard with 9:09 left in the first quarter. Pal-Mac tied the game at 1 about 30 seconds later. Goals by Grady Goodberlet and Vengoeachea about a minute apart put the Cougars back in front, 3-1. Pal-Mac tied the game at 3 on a pair of goals. Grady Goodberlet’s goal was offset by one from Pal-Mac to leave the teams tied at 4 at the end of the period. Pal-Mac took its only lead of the game early in the second quarter and held it for 20 seconds until Donahoe’s goal tied the game at 5-5. That goal ignited a five-goal explosion by the Cougars within a four minute span. Angelo had two of the goals, Kailbourne one and Vengoechea one. Grady Goodberlet had another for the Cougars and Pal-Mac also scored once more in the period to leave the Cougars in front at 10-6 by halftime. The third quarter featured five straight goals by HF-L. The first two, one by Angelo and one by Goodberlet, came before the first weather delay due to a thunderstorm. After a long break, the game resumed and the Cougars resumed their scoring blitz with goals by Vengoechea, Angelo and Brassie that boosted the squad into a 15-6 lead. Pal-Mac scored to pull within 15-7 at the end of the third quarter. That goal seemed to spark the Raiders who scored the first four goals of the fourth quarter to pull within 15-11 with just over seven minutes left. Then came the second weather delay because of another thunderstorm. That delay worked to the Cougars’ advantage as they came out when play resumed and Angelo won the faceoff to give the Cougars possession of the ball. They held onto it for most of that time and Brassie scored the final goal with 1:31 left.
Angelo scored five goals to go with 22 ground balls and winning 24 faceoffs. Goodberlet netted four goals, Vengoechea three goals, Brassie two goals and one assist, Kailbourne one goal and one assist, Donahoe one goal and one assist and Perryman five assists. Bennett handled six saves in goal, along with one ground ball and one take. Perryman collected five ground balls with one take, Donahoe four ground balls with one take, Cook four ground balls and three takes, Brassie three ground balls and one take, Vengoechea two ground balls, Goodberlet one ground ball, Huff one ground ball, Kailbourne one ground ball, Peinkofer one ground ball and Smith one take. Angelo was named Tournament MVP. Perryman, Goodberlet, Peinkofer and Smith were also named to the All-Tournament team.
“We just kept the kids focused during the first weather delay,” coach Goodberlet said. “We had good momentum going into the delay and the kids came out ready to play after it. The second delay kind of halted their momentum and gave us a chance to regroup. Drew winning 24 faceoffs was huge for us because it gives our high-powered offense so many chances to score.”
HF-L played Lakeshore (from the Buffalo area) in the New York State Out Bracket game on May 29 and would play again on June 1st if they beat Lakeshore.
